American actress Kaylee Hottle, best known for playing the deaf character of Jia in two Godzilla and King Kong films, has died at the age of 19 after suffering a traffic accident in Maryland (United States). This was confirmed by his father, Joshua Hottle, to the media. TMZ after sharing the news using American Sign Language (ASL) in a live broadcast on social media. In the 23-minute video post, Joshua wrote that he is going to “take a flight I would never have wanted to take” to recover his daughter’s body.
Kaylee Hottle, originally from Atlanta, comes from a family of deaf people for several generations. She began her career in commercials—particularly a public service advertisement for the live video calling app Glide, which is used by many members of the deaf and hard of hearing community—when she was just 9 years old. But he rose to fame with the film Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), where she played Jia, a native teenager who communicates with the gorilla King Kong using sign language and lives on Skull Island with Rebecca Hall’s character, Dr. Ilene Andrews. The young actress returned to give life to the same character in the 2024 sequel Godzilla and Kong: the new empire, fifth installment of this Monsterverse. For her performance there, she was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Young Actress.
Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård, who starred alongside Hottle in the first installment, told Junkie in 2021 that both he and Rebecca Hall learned ASL to communicate with the actress when the cameras were not rolling. Skarsgård “was impressed by the serenity of Hottle,” who was 9 years old at the time of filming, according to the Australian media. “It’s her first film,” Skarsgård explained, “it’s fascinating how comfortable she is in front of the camera and how quickly she picks up director Adam (Wingard)’s cues.”
In March 2024, Hottle shared his expectations for the future of Jia’s character in the next chapter of the universe. Godzilla vs. Kong. The actress He envisioned Jia playing a bigger role in helping his community—the EWI tribe. Hottle declared to the American media Deadline that the character “has incredible potential and many amazing abilities” yet to be discovered. After the events of the last film, Hottle believed that Jia’s story could become even more relevant. The next delivery Godzilla X Kong: Supernova —which will be released in 2027— will star the recently deceased Sam Neill, famous for his interpretations of Dr. Alan Grant in the first installments of Jurassic Park.
In addition to the two monster universe films, the actress also appears in the credits of a 2021 episode of the series Magnum P.I. Beyond his career as a performer, Hottle was an athlete and competed on the track team at the Texas School for the Deaf, where Hottle was in his senior year, and which also confirmed his death in a statement posted on social media.